How to stock a mocktail bar

Here are five pointers to remember with booze-free entertaining

How you stock the bar says a lot about you, whether there's alcohol or not. Just as you wouldn't serve rotgut to guests who drink alcohol, don't go cut-rate with guests who do not.

Here are five pointers:

Buy the best ingredients you can afford, including juices, sodas, coffees, teas and various garnitures.

When looking for fruit or vegetables to mix into drinks, go for produce that's "a little past prime,'' says mixologist Bridget Albert, author of "Market-Fresh Mixology." It will be easier to mash up and will have more natural sugars. Many sellers at farmers markets will slash prices drastically to get rid of over-ripe items.

Balanced flavors, color and texture are all super-important in making booze-free drinks because in removing the alcohol you are, in Albert's words, "taking out the fire completely." Consider what you can do to put some spark back in.

Keep it simple, if you want to. A nondrinking friend sips a 50-50 blend of ginger ale and club soda. A snap to make and it doesn't taste as sugary as straight ginger ale, she says. Look for unusual flavors at your local supermarket or the nearest ethnic market.

Looks count. Create clever garnishes. One of Albert's simple tricks: Put a freshly shelled pea in each compartment of an ice cube tray, fill with water and freeze to make pretty cubes.